Anyone who does any carpentery or construction work, either industrial, commercial, or in a home workshop, owns an electric circular saw. If precision cabinetry or furniture work is contemplated, the additional purchase of a table saw or a radial arm saw may become necessary. However, the radial arm and table saws may cost up to about ten times as much as a comparable circular saw. An electric saw of the hand-held type is capable of making many types of cuts in many kinds of materials. But, there are no commercially available devices which can be used to guide the saw so that the accurate cuts required by nearly every type of wood fabricating procedure can be made easily. The user does find that the saw is extremely useful in making long diagonal cuts in plywood and particle board but, again, the same problem of making straight accurate cuts is present.
Therefore, resort to the selection and purchase of the above described table and radial arm saws is inevitable. Purchase of these items is justified by envisioning the realization of a large savings by the construction of costly furniture and cabinet items. However, in using this new equipment, there are many limitations to overcome. First, both units require a large area of floor space in use. This space is required around each unit to allow for "in-feed" and "out-feed" of large pieces of lumber or plywood. Lumber for most projects requires 8 to 12 foot lengths and plywood and particle sheets 4 feet by 8 feet in dimension must be ripped and cross-cut. This work can be done only if at least something over 12 feet of clear space for in-feed and out-feed, and at lest 4 or 5 feet in front of each unit, is provided.
Second, the expensive table and radial saws cannot be left outdoors, even overnight, because dew or moisture causes them to rust in a matter of a few hours. Moreover, since these saws are heavy and unwieldy, they cannot be readily moved from an indoor to an outdoor location. This forces owners to commit valuable permanent floor space in a shop, garage, or other area, to this equipment. In most instances, by the time this equipment has been installed in most normal workshop areas, little room is left to house other tyes of equipment. Commercial users of the above saws find the same problems even more magnified because of the use of longer, wider dimension lumber or plywood. They find even greater difficulty attached to the transport of equipment from job site to shop.
In addition to the aforementioned problems, the owner of the table saw finds that his saw cannot cut a straight line in a longitudinally-warped board or in a diagonal line in a piece of plywood or board. In addition, to handle a large piece of plywood through the saw is a very difficult procedure due to its weight, size, and the constant tendency to veer away from the guiding fence. This tends to produce crooked edges. In short, one finds that the high priced table saw has considerable limitations due to its size and the amount of space it occupies, as well as the general cutting and accuracy limitations.
The owner of the radial arm saw finds that the machine is even more limited in scope than the table saw. More specifically, its primary effectiveness is in making straight cross-cuts in dimensional lumber of less than 12 inches wide and two inches thick. If the board or piece of material is over 12 to 14 inches wide, it cannot make angles because the saw itself does not travel far enough along on the support arm. The saw is further limited in cabinet work because most of the work is done with plywood or particle board. The normal sizes of this material are too large to permit the use of a radial arm saw. Although the employment of a radial arm saw, or a router, is possible, it is not practical due to the adaptors and fittings which must be bought and the extensive time required to set up the equipment for each individual run.
A continuous problem is the copious quantities of sawdust generated in closed quarters. In places such as a shop, garage, or workshop, where table and radial arm saws must be kept in home use, sawdust flies all over the room every time the machine is operated. It also penetrates every cabinet and shelf and sifts into every open space or storage area in the room. Where saws are in shops attached to the living quarters, the sawdust even gets into the house by being tracked in, or moved by air currents which blow the dust into the house every time the door opens. Normally, floors in the entire area must be cleaned after each use of the equipment. Sawdust collection and removal are both expensive to install and tends to add greatly to the fire hazards in the shop and adjacent structures.